Cynthia Lennon is born

Cynthia Lennon, the first wife of John Lennon, was born on 10 September 1939.

Cynthia Lillian Powell was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, the youngest of three children of Charles and Lillian (née Roby).

Lillian Powell was sent to Blackpool after World War Two was declared on 3 September 1939, one week before Cynthia’s birth. They stayed in a bed-and-breakfast on the Blackpool seafront before moving to a two-bedroomed house in Hoylake, a middle-class town on the Wirral Peninsula where Cynthia grew up.

#CynthiaLennon was #BornThisDay 10SEP1939. Photo by George Harrison, 1964. Photo of George, Cynthia & @johnlennon by #HarryBenson,1964 . pic.twitter.com/Z3MlHCC7k6

— George Harrison (@GeorgeHarrison) September 10, 2017

At the age of 12 she was accepted into Liverpool’s Junior Art School, and in 1957 started as a pupil at Liverpool College of Art. It was there she met John Lennon, whom she married in 1962. They had a son, Julian, together before divorcing in 1968.

Cynthia remarried three times, to Roberto Bassanini, John Twist, and Noel Charles. She published two memoirs, A Twist Of Lennon and John, which focused on her time with John Lennon.

Cynthia Lennon died of cancer on 1 April 2015 in Calvià, Spain.